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Re: 2016 NFL Season Thread

“The offensive line did not like Robert Griffin,” Cooley said. “A lot of the receivers did not like Robert Griffin. The offensive line had a problem with Robert, because they were considered for a year-and-a-half or two years a terrible offensive line that couldn’t protect a quarterback. A lot of that isn’t true. A lot of that was Robert. A lot of the sacks were put on Robert. Want to believe it or not, they were, okay? Football-wise, they were: it was Robert.

Cooley also mentioned Griffin’s comments to members of the media after Cousins beat the Browns in late 2012, when Griffin was held out because of injury. ” I was not happy with the decision,” Griffin said then, even though the Redskins had won the game. “At the end of the day, that’s the decision they went with. I respect that, but it doesn’t mean I necessarily have to like it.” Griffin also said that it was a “great business trip,” and that the win was “huge” for the Redskins, but Cooley said players looked askance at his comments.

“The press conference was unprecedented, and it showed a little b—- in him,” Cooley said. “Not that he is that as a person, but it showed that characteristic, of ‘I can be a little b—- if I need to be a little b—-. I can make just enough noise if I need to make just enough noise.’ I don’t think anybody liked that. That was actually seen amongst the team as dude, we still won the game. We actually had to win this game to keep our playoff hopes alive. … All of it really starts to tie together towards the end of that season.”

Re: 2016 NFL Season Thread

Bummed about missing out on Irvin and Vernon, but I'm really happy with the Jags hauling in Jackson, Gipson, and Ivory so far and still having an absurd amount of cap space. Add in Fowler and Marks returning from injury, another year of development for the offense, and the #5 pick (most likely either Jack or Bosa at this point) and this could finally be a good team.

Re: 2016 NFL Season Thread

Lots of rule changes for the coming season.

Touchbacks are moved from the 20 to the 25 yard line. (The league thinks this will reduce kickoff returns, but I think it will induce kicking teams to try more high/short kicks, figuring with the extra automatic five yards, they're better off making the returner bring it out).

2 unsportsmanlike conduct penalties will result in ejection.

Coaches can use headset communication with the on-field play caller from the booth (instead of just from the sidelines as in the past).

Horse collar tackles have been expanded to anywhere above the "nameplate"

All chop blocks are now illegal

A team doesn't have to name the "designated to return" IR player at the time of putting them on IR. They can choose later.

But if you were looking for some clarification on what is or isn't a catch, better luck next time.

Re: 2016 NFL Season Thread

They not only doctored the data in their concussion reports thus reducing the percentage of concussions that they say occured...

The database does not include any concussions involving the Dallas Cowboys for all six seasons, including four to Mr. Aikman that were listed on the N.F.L.’s official midweek injury reports or were widely reported in the news media. He and many other players were therefore not included when the committee analyzed the frequency and lasting effects of multiple concussions.

Several other teams have no concussions listed for years at a time. Yet the committee’s calculations did include hundreds of those teams’ games played during that period, which produced a lower overall concussion rate.

but they also employed the same lawyers, lobbyists and tactics that the tobacco industry did in hiding the link between their product and cancer.

On at least two occasions in the 1970s and 1980s, the N.F.L. hired a company whose client list included the Tobacco Institute to study player injuries. The league also hired a company — for a matter unrelated to player safety — that had performed a study for the tobacco industry that played down the danger of secondhand smoke.

The N.F.L.’s ties to tobacco are reflected in other ways. When Congress was considering legislation that dealt with when a team owner could relocate a franchise, Joe Browne, a league official sought lobbying advice from a representative of the Tobacco Institute.

“I would like to take the opportunity to sit down and discuss this bill with you further,” Mr. Browne said in a 1982 letter to the institute’s president, Sam Chilcote.

Neil Austrian, a former N.F.L. president, had previously run an advertising agency that under his leadership reversed its ban on taking tobacco clients. He called Philip Morris “an honorable company that sets high standards.” It was during his tenure at the N.F.L. that the concussion committee was created.

So basically, like we've all known, they've known for years how dangerous the sport is for the players and instead of doing the right thing and working to help these guys, they spent considerable manpower, money and time to fabricate reports that said what they wished was true. Can't pin this on Gooddell, but he's gonna be stuck cleaning it up.